Purpose: The purpose of this project was to develop on-farm food safety decision trees to help growers identify food safety risks and prioritize the effective implementation of practices with limited human and financial resources.
Methods: An advisory group of growers and regulatory personnel worked with researchers to design a decision tree model that was easy to understand and provided the necessary resources to facilitate risk assessment and GAPs implementation with an emphasis on small farms. Scientific recommendations within the decision tree were developed using data from refereed journal articles, industry guidance documents, and expert opinion when research data was unavailable.
Results: A complete On-Farm Food Safety Decision Tree portfolio has been developed including an introduction on how to use the decision tree, a checklist for prioritizing the implementation of practices, a glossary, and nine topic specific area trees including Worker Health, Hygiene and Training; Agricultural Water for Production; Soil Amendments; Wildlife and Animal Management; Land Use; Postharvest Water; Sanitation and Postharvest Handling; Traceability; and Transportation. Each tree can be used independently so growers can adopt practices at their own pace and tailor their food safety plans to their individual farms.
Significance: Providing guidance on how to assess on-farm food safety risks will help growers target the use of limited farm resources to most effectively reduce contamination risks to fresh produce. Preventing contamination will reduce produce-associated foodborne illness outbreaks and protect fresh produce consumers.